But whether the organ of taste be seated in the tongue or in the palate, the Divine Wisdom is not less apparent in this sense than in all the others. The judicious Derham observes, that our Creator seems to have established a great consent between the eye, the nose, and tongue, by ordering the branches of the same nerves to each of these three parts, as also, indeed, to various other parts of the body: by which means there is all the guard that can be against pernicious food; since, before it be admitted into the stomach, it is to undergo the trial of three of the senses; the scrutiny of the eye, that strict surveyor of its outward appearance, and the probation of the smell and taste, the two severest judges of its natural constitution and composition. The Touch, or Feeling, is the fifth sense; by which we acquire the ideas of solid, hard, soft, rough, hot, cold, wet, dry, or other tangible qualities; as also of distance, itching, pain, &c. It is the grossest, but, at the same time, the most exquisite of our senses, having more objects than all the rest taken together; and some even reduce all the other senses to this one of feeling. The latest and best authors hold the immediate organ of the sense of feeling to be the pyramidal papillæ under the skin. These papillæ are little, soft, medullary, nervous prominences, lodged every where immediately under the cuticle or outermost skin. They are formed of the subcutaneous nerves, which are largest and most conspicuous in those parts chiefly designed for the office of feeling; namely, the tongue, and the tips of the fingers and toes; and they are both contractible and expansive at pleasure. And, therefore, feeling is thus effected: the tip of the finger, for instance, being applied to the object to be examined, by the intention of the mind the papillæ are emitted or elevated, and being slightly rubbed over the surface of the object, a mo tion is impressed on them, which being propagated thence by the nerves communicating with them to the common sensory, excites the perception of heat, cold, harshness, or the like.-The nerves are spread in a manner incomparably curious throughout the whole body. But to describe their origin in the brain and spinal marrow, their ramifications to all the parts, their inosculations with one another, &c. by which not only the sense of feeling is performed, but also animal motion, and an admirable consent and harmony between all the parts of the body is effected, more properly belongs to an anatomical account of the nervous system. Feeling is, on many accounts, the most universal of our senses, no animal being without it; not even those that are generally thought to have no other sense, as oysters and earthworms. Naturalists observe that spiders, flies, and ants have this sense in much greater perfection than man; although we have instances of persons who could distinguish colours by their feeling, and others who could perceive what people said by the same sense. In blind persons the defect of sight has been supplied by an exquisite touch, or sense of feeling, which they have had in such perfection, that, as it has been said of some, they learned to hear with their eyes, it may be said of these, that they taught themselves to see with their hands. A passage, therefore, in Shakspeare's King Lear, which has been thought a fine boldness of expression, is extremely natural and pathetic: O dear son Edgar, Might I but live to see thee in my touch, I'd say, I had eyes again. The dispersion of the sense of feeling throughout the body must not be unnoticed. The other senses, it has been observed, are seated in the very best place for the relief and comfort, the guard and be nefit of the animal: and as it was necessary both to the existence and wellbeing of the body, that every part should be sensible of things safe, or things prejudicial to itself, it is, therefore, an admirable contrivance of the great Creator, to disperse this sense of feeling through every part, in order to distinguish between pleasure and pain, and between what is salutary and what is hurtful. In the account which I have thus given of the five senses, in the present and two preceding papers, it is evident that there is an economy in them worthy of the Creator, and manifestly demonstrative of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. For, whether we consider the mechanism of the organs, or the great use and convenience of each sense, we find them noble and grand, curious and artificial, every way worthy of an omnipotent hand, and beyond the skill and contrivance of aught but Deity.. The Contemplative Philosopher, then, will never fail to recollect, that what the Deity has thus provided for our use, was provided for the noblest ends. Tully, after expatiating, in his treatise, De Naturá Deorum, on the accurate discernment, and admirable uses of the eye and ear, thus complains: • Our other senses of smelling, tasting, and feeling, are likewise possessed of very acute discernments; for the gratification and indulgence of which, more arts have been invented than I could wish; for it is evident to what an extravagant degree the composition of perfumes, the seasoning of meats, and other refinements of sensuality, have been carried.'-Happy the philosopher, happy the man, who disdains the employment of such faculties to the purposes of mere sensual enjoyment. How grateful should he be whose sight enables him to avoid the various perils by which he is surrounded; to behold the magnificence of the heavens; the beauties of landscape, and numberless diversities of Creative Power: whose hearing renders him capable of guarding against every danger that may menace him at a distance; to engage in the sweet intercourses of rational conversation and endearing sentiment; to receive from others the noblest lessons of instruction; and to listen with rapture, to the soothing charms of melody, or to the grander combinations of harmony: who, by his smell and taste, can distinguish with accuracy, what is salutary from what is unwholesome in his food, and can be susceptible of the pleasing sensations which result from the fragrant beauties of spring, or the lavish bounties of autumn: and, finally, whose feel ing is so conducive to self-preservation, and productive, in such a variety of respects, of exquisite delight. He will recollect, that our senses, by the ideas which they admit, are the sources of still nobler pleasures the pleasures of the heart and understanding; which, cultivated with constant assiduity, are so many flowers strewed along the paths that lead to heaven and immortality. For yet a little while, and the eye will be no longer charmed with the beauty of terrestrial objects; the ear no longer captivated by the enchanting tones of music; the smell and taste will be insensible to the most fragrant sweets, and the most delicious viands; and the touch, now susceptible of such exquisite sensations, will cease alike to affect with pleasure or with pain: in a word, when nothing will remain but the memorial of virtuous fame, and (if fitted for such felicity) a resurrection to the blessedness of the just. No. XLIX. ON LIGHTNING AND THUNDER. Multa tamen restant, et sunt ornanda politis LUCRETIUS. Lo, these are parts of his ways! But how little a portion is heard of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? Loud thunder, livid flames, and Stygian night, 6 JOB. BLACKMORE. THE wonders of the Divine Wisdom in our atmosphere are inexhaustible. Of that element itself, with various properties and beneficial uses of it, and some of the most common meteors observable in it, I have already treated. But, as the philosophical poet observes, in my first motto, much still remains to be discussed;' and, the more we extend our researches, the more shall we be convinced, with the venerable patriarch above, that we know but little in comparison with the secrets of Nature that are yet unknown, and which, by mortals at least, may continue for ever unexplored. In our atmosphere is observable a variety of meteors; that is, certain changeable, moveable, imperfect mixt bodies, or resemblance of a body, formed of the matter that floats in the atmosphere, and exhibiting various appearances. These meteors1 are The Greeks call them Twp, that is, sublimia, highraised; the Latins impressiones, as making signs or impressions in the air. |